Online retailer JD Williams revealed the results of their ‘Midster’ Report today which looks at the 45 – 65 market, asking questions about body confidence, style and shopping behaviours. It also looks at attitudes towards key life moments such as dating and relationships, healthy living, life adventures, home life and the 9-5/work-life balance.

And while many of the results are encouraging and opinions towards ‘mid-life’ are improving, it looks like when it comes to fashion the industry is still failing.

Before I start my rant, let's start with some of the good news;

* 56% of women aged 45+ define themselves as body confident, a 13% increase from the previous YouGov report in 2016 (43%), revealing that women are feeling more empowered and getting more comfortable in their own skin.

* One in five women aged 45+ say their sex life is better now compared to their younger years, with 16% saying they have sex once a week or more and 42% saying they’d like to increase their time spent between the sheets.

I thought that might put a smile on your face. But now for the slightly irritating ‘bad’ news:

It would seem that even with the apparent positive attitudes of the women surveyed, the report reveals that these women still feel underrepresented in the media, with eight in ten British women aged 45+ not feeling represented enough in TV adverts, 70% feeling ignored by the high street and 8 in 10 believing that their age group isn’t represented on fashion catwalks.

The majority feel women aged 45+ are not represented on catwalks (Image: Rex)

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So why isn’t this message getting through? With money in their pockets and a keen interest in looking good, it just doesn’t make sense that the high street isn’t catering for 45-65 year old women. So what’s the problem?

Well for starters, most retailers stand by the belief that women don’t want to be patronised and treated as 'old'. True. But the rather bewildering result of this view is that clothes are modelled by prepubescent teenagers. It just doesn't follow.

Surely they can see that there’s an affluent, savvy, style hungry middle ground? And it's not looking to buy a twin-set and pearls. Forty is the new thirty and fifty is the new forty, remember?

Then there's the problem of customer perception to consider. While shops like Zara, H&M, Mango and River Island offer clothes for an older demographic, you really have to look for them. And the layout of most shops is enough to send most 45 plus women sprinting for the exit.

Shop layouts and ranges do not have 45+ women in mind (Image: Getty Images)

Basically what I am saying is that walk into most high street stores and the first thing you see is a picture of young model staring at you wearing a ridiculously ‘trendy’ outfit. And there’s probably some very loud music blaring at you. It’s not exactly a shopping environment that entices grown women in. So yes, the dress of your dreams may well be hanging, as you turn right, at back of H&M, but are you prepared to venture in and hunt for it?

Zara is an interesting example because they have clearly identified this gap in the market. Fully aware that the 45 plus customer has thus bar been ignored they launched their new Zara Timeless Collection this season. This is a clever, and far from altruistic move by the Spanish retail giant.

Zara's Timeless campaign features models all over the age of 40 (Image: Zara)

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Having identified a gap, they are actively going after 45-65 year olds. And guess what? It’s been shot on three women, all over 40 . Genius right? Well no, not really. But it’s been such a long time coming we automatically feel inexplicably grateful. But walk into their stores and there’s little or no evidence of this exciting new collection. Dispersed around the store, it only stands alone online. Surely, they should be shouting from the rooftops.

Of course Zara aren’t the only retailer chasing the middle-age market. Cos have struck the right cord for the 45 plus women offering gown up clothes in a comfortable environment. As have Whistles, Reiss and LK Bennett - but they’re all at the more expensive end.

Which brings me on to Marks & Spencer . The high street store is unashamedly and quite vocally catering for the older women. But when newly appointed CEO Steven Rowe identified 'Mrs M&S' last year, there was a public outcry. But while on the surface she may not have sounded uber glamorous, he knew she had money in her pocket and wanted to buy some stylish, age-appropriate clothes.

In fact M&S sales figures are looking better than they have in years. Walk into an any of their stores and you'll find dresses with sleeves and flattering midi hem lines. Gaze around the stores and the models are actual grown ups. And they've even stopped playing loud music, wait for it... because their customers didn't want it.

And that's not all. Take a look at the Style and Living section on their website and you'll see styling tips aimed at women of ALL ages.

So, maybe the high street just needs to change the way they communicate to their older customers?

Take JD Williams for example. The online retailer is hugely successful thanks to the fact that their remit has always been to evolve their designs to cater for their 45 plus customer. They have identified that it’s all about allowing women to feel confident and comfortable in whatever they choose.

Day time TV presenter Lorraine Kelly , 57, designs affordable timeless collections for JD Williams that have been big sellers. And of course they continue to use age-appropriate models in their campaigns.

The key is the 'listening to their customers' bit which makes their Midster report so invaluable. This is the retailers third sate of the nation report with YouGov, that gives them a competitive edge.

Clearly there’s no simple answer to this debate. But the figures don’t lie, most 45 plus women feel ignored by retailers and it’s complete and utter madness.

But I do believe (small) change is starting to happen. I just have no idea why it’s so slow. One thing that’s blatantly obvious is that the high street really, really needs to sit up, listen and do a bit of growing up.